The cost of entry for Toyota's wildly
popular Prius hybrid just got a little bit cheaper. Toyota announced
on Monday that it would introduce a new "standard model"
for the 2008 Prius which will start at $20,950 -- down from $22,175
for the previous base 2007 Prius.

The price cut effectively makes the
Prius the cheapest hybrid available on the market. The crown was
previously held by the Saturn
Aura Green Line which has a base MSRP of $22,695 including
destination fee.

There is no word on what features
Toyota cut to drop the price by over $1,000, but possible targets
might include traction control, heated mirrors and steering wheel
radio controls.

The Prius wasn't the only Toyota hybrid
to receive a price cut -- the company announced last week that the
Camry Hybrid would receive a $1,000 price cut for the 2008 model
year. In order to reach the lower $25,860 price point, Toyota ditched
the leather steering wheel/shift knob, Homelink and JBL audio system
among other things.

"You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling." -- Peter Moore, 24 hours before his Microsoft resignation